Addressing Civic Violence in New Democracies: A Comparative Analysis of Efforts to Establish Citizen Security through Police Reform in Argentina, Brazil, and Honduras

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this policy is what officials consider a basic choice between rights and order, reflected in a split
between the government’s mano dura and the pro-civil rights “guaranteeism” of most criminal
justice officials. Maduro focused on youth gangs (maras), who even police acknowledge commit
less than a third of all crimes, but which seem to be blamed for all of them. Anti-mara rhetoric
saturates the media and – with high levels of approval from the public, Congress, and the court s–
dominates criminal law.
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Penal code article 322 was amended to punish membership in a gang
with nine to twelve years’ imprisonment, above all, while the Law of Police and Social Co-
Existence (Ley de Policía y de Convivencia Social) of 2001 widened the police’s detention power.
To fight narco-trafficking as well as the maras, the government also brought the military into
regular policing. Since 2002, soldiers have been used in police sweeps and inundations of gang-
controlled urban areas and in taking control of prison riots. Presidential Decree 123-2002
facilitated such actions by allowing police and military units to raid and search homes without a
warrant if there is evidence of a kidnapping or other crime. Such policies prioritize short-term
gains over long-term efforts – they boost arrests rates but are ultimately counter-productive because
soldiers are trained for war, not citizen security. In April 2002, for example, 69 inmates died in a
fire at the El Porvenir penal colony – most killed by soldiers who came to restore order.
The accountability agencies that were part of Honduras’s police re-structuring have also
been weakened. Two of the main accountability agencies are the National Council of Interior
Security (CONASIN: Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Interior), which advises the government on
criminal policy, and the Internal Affairs Unit (UAI: Unidad de Asuntos Internos), which
investigates police wrongdoing. But CONASIN is rarely convened, removing an important check
on state policy.
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And when the Secretariat of Security was established in 1997, it was given
control over nearly all police agencies, prompting a “process of counter-reform … characterized by
halting the process of depuration of corrupt officers and those involved in right violations and in
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Many Honduran officials and activists believe the media is paid by the government for favorable coverage.
12
Ramón Custodio, National Human Rights Commissior; Author Interview, July 4, 2005.
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Authors: Arias, Enrique.

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this policy is what officials consider a basic choice between rights and order, reflected in a split

between the government’s mano dura and the pro-civil rights “guaranteeism” of most criminal